I’d Better Laugh or I Just Might Cry

It was like something out of “A Christmas Story.” As much of the country was laid siege by the Polar Vortex, the temperature here in Chicagoland was -15 on Monday. Long story short, I froze my hand to a metal door, and for a time was stuck outside, alone, in PJ’s, with four young kids in the house, waiting for a grownup to arrive and tell me what to do to get myself out of this mess.

Fast forward 2.5 days, and I am blistered and burned but not really any worse for the wear. Yes I am uncomfortable and experiencing a little pain, but compared to many in this world, I got off EASY.

So as I do with many events in my life, I try to make people laugh with the story. Because as I see it, you have a choice in every situation. You can wallow, or you can rise above. And I’ll almost always choose rising above, unless there are copious amounts of chocolate involved in the wallowing option—then, all bets are off.

In all seriousness though, I want to know: Which type of person are you? When the bad stuff happens, like losing an account, or making an error in an estimate, or even something as serious as losing your job, what do you do? Wallow or rise and move on?

Here I am waiting for your answer—enjoy the muzak that is playing, although in my case muzak is replaced by silence as that is something I rarely experience any more…

Here is the good news. Even if up until today you were a wallow-er, you CAN change. In fact, here is a really interesting article about how changing your life stories can make you happier…

Here is the point: Bad stuff is gonna happen. It happens to everyone, and it will happen to you. Many of those things you cannot control. But what you CAN control is how you recover, how you react, and how you re-tell it, learn from it, and move on.

Now working as a consultant, Kelly sold digital printing for 15 years so she understands the challenges, frustrations and pitfalls of building a successful sales practice. Her mission is to help printers of all sizes sell more stuff. Kelly's areas of focus include client recovery, retention and acquisition, and marketing communications projects.

Kelly graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Political Science and, among other notable accomplishments, co-founded the Windy City Rollers, a professional women's roller derby league.